The strongest hurricanes and typhoons on the planet weren't only Category 5 intensity, but had both wind speeds and pressure that are hard to put into context of more ordinary weather.

This comes to mind because Hurricane Polo became one of the most intense Eastern Pacific hurricanes on record off the Mexican coast.

Western Hemisphere records

Data on hurricanes and tropical storms in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific basins is the most robust on the planet, given decades of coverage by weather satellites.

Weather in your inbox

Forecast Location

Sign Up

By signing up you agree to the Terms & Privacy Policy. Unsubscribe at any time.

There are two ways to measure a hurricane's strength — by its maximum sustained winds and by its lowest surface pressure.

Highest winds

One hurricane stands above all others on this list.

Get More of Our News on Google

Set The Weather Company as a 'Preferred Source' to get quicker access to the news you value.

In late October 2015, Hurricane Patricia's maximum sustained winds reached an incredible 215 mph as it was about 150 miles off Mexico's Pacific coast.

Those are the estimated wind speeds in EF5 tornadoes and about as fast as today's standard bullet trains.

You may notice some recent hurricanes in the list below, including Melissa (2025), Milton (2024) and, yes, Polo.

Lowest pressure

Meteorologists measure pressure not in inches, but in a unit known as millibars. Average sea-level air pressure is about 1,013 millibars. The lower the pressure, the stronger the storm.

The most legendary hurricanes have all had pressures plunge below 900 millibars. Only nine of them have done so in the Western Hemisphere.

Again, Patricia was in a league of its own, as you can see below.

2005's Wilma is the Atlantic Basin's most intense hurricane by pressure. Its pinhole eye satellite image remains one of the most iconic images in hurricane history.

And, yes, Polo made this list, too. It was the second most intense Eastern Pacific hurricane by pressure, behind only Patricia.

Some world records

According to the World Meteorological Organization, Super Typhoon Nancy had maximum sustained winds of 215 mph on Sept. 12, 1961, between Guam and the Philippines. (A typhoon is a name for a hurricane in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean.)

But in 2010, NOAA's Hurricane Research Division cited a 1992 study that found wind estimates in typhoons in the mid-20th century were too strong.

Less controversial is the world record strongest surface wind gust not from a tornado, a 253-mph gust in Cyclone Olivia near Barrow Island, Australia, on April 10, 1996.

The world record lowest pressure of any tropical cyclone was Super Typhoon Tip, whose surface pressure was measured by reconnaissance aircraft at 870 millibars on Oct. 12, 1979. That's 2 millibars lower than 2015's Patricia.

Tip was also the largest tropical cyclone ever documented. Its tropical storm force winds extended up to 675 miles from its center.

According to NOAA, the circulation pattern associated with Tip was about 1,380 miles wide. That's close to the driving distance on Interstate 95 from New York City to the upper Florida Keys.

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.